Hotspotoutdoors

their were tons of boats in prescott confluence today, and did not see to many nets going up.. then move up north of the confluence where i caught 2 walleyes and one sauger for 3 hours of fishing.. it was slow, but sure was nice day. Will try to headout again maybe wed....

Thanks for the update. I might be there on monday.

Was out friday morning for about 3 hours along with about 15-20 other boats, not a bite and did not see many nets dip the water

I was out all day and it was very slow for me as well. 2 small saugers were all I came up with. It was an awesome day though and probably my last for the year, unfortunately. Time to catch up on the honey do list I've been procrastinating on for months. Can't wait for Spring!

I'll have to 3'rd the 13/14" saugers. I'll take a limit of those home any day. The bigger the sauger the nastier. Since sauger are typically smaller than walleye you have to think that a 14" sauger is like a 16/17" walleye which is some prime eating as well. i made the mistake of taking home one that was a little over 19" a couple years ago. That was the nastiest fish I had on a plate!!

Got out for a couple hours yesterday, after some Pheasant hunting in the morning/early afternoon. Current on the Mississippi at Prescott was moving fast, made it very tough to jig which is all I was set up to do. Hit a couple spots on the Croix and ended up with 3 walleyes between 15 1/2" and 17". Hopefully if the weather holds will be able to get out once or twice more before putting the boat away.

My wife and I were out with a friend yesterday, launched out of the Bluffs, slow for us also. I got two saugers, 17" and 15", with a half dozen other fish between the 3 of us, so it was the classic river mixed bag day. Looked slow all over, lots of boats moving around all day and not too many nets out. The current was cooking down in Prescott at the confluence, that's for sure. Nice day to be on the river, hope to be out next weekend as well.

Went this morning and got snuffed. Other boats had better luck. Should I be moving away from 3-ways and start trolling shap raps?
It was a really nice day to be on the river.

3-ways work year round on the St. Croix. Maybe speed up a little with the nice weather we have been having recently.

Fished today and had a great day!!! My Dad got a 16'eye and we got 8 saugers as well. The weather was perfect,no wind 50ish.
Three ways were the way to go. Orange,Blue and the firetiger raps were the order of the day.

I'm going to play around with handline style 3 way rigging tomorrow. Thinking of running something like this. Basically tie a second bait to the top loop on the pencil bouncer. I'm going to call it the snagmaster..

Just tie treble hooks in a long line on those leaders then throw a spinner blade in front of it to make it All Nice And Legal Like

I really don't understand what makes a spinner so special?! Maybe it's really the clevis that makes it special?

ooooooooo pretty drawing!

I tried something similar to this before I got my handlines. The biggest problem I had was tangling the lines up before I could get them down in the water. I was not connecting to the top of a pencil weight so that may actually work better than what I was trying. I tried using 2, 3 way swivels. The only problem i can see with connecting that far down would be that the bottom lure would be dragging the bottom most of the time. Snagmaster may end up being the best name. If you use a 6" pencil weight and consider that it will be dragging at an angle the top of the weight will only be 4-5" max from the bottom. Shallow running Rapalas will drop 1.5" per foot of line on average. 3' leader and the lure will run 4.5" down. If you can find a pencil weight that is 12" long or longer this might work better.
Good luck and let us know how it works for you.

I didn't wind up rigging the snagmaster today; between my dad and his buddy and their fake knees and hips I didn't want to complicate the system they were used to. They both were happy with the rods in the holders most of the time...

I'm pretty sure I can make it work. I use long pencil weights 12+" for all my BB and with 6&8oz weights you wind up running nearly vertical bouncing the weight along. Looks like it won't freeze for another week, maybe I can give it a try still. I really believe that the dual baits entices fish to bite, not much else explains why handlining works soo darn well at times?!. I'm guessing it has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of a rod though?!

Sean,
I've thought of that rig too. The trouble I had with it is, it is a headache, as you predicted, when others are using it... Another easier way to get two cranks on one line is to tie a dropper off of the backwire on a Rapala and attach another rap to the dropper. Then they are in line not staggered a little different...

This inline cranks works well in the early spring on pool four, many guys do this in March and April. Keep Catchin' Turk

Fished in Prescott today and took home 6 nice sauger. My dad caught an 18" and 21"sauger(both were pardoned) on a 3way with blue floating rap. The 14 ft Lund is now put away for the year but I hope to fish more with friends.

I'm looking to hit the river sometime soon myself. My ice fishing rates are going to apply to boat fishing after thanksgiving.

Do people ice fish around the bridges in Prescott? If so what do they fish for?

Stays open sorry

The area around the Prescott bridges stays open all year. You can fish out in front of the beach on the MN side all the way up to a ways South of the Kini. Most people don't go out there for a while yet, it takes a while for the ice to be safe because of the current. When the ice is safe for driving on there is a place to drive on West of the beach on the MN side.
I have only caught a few Walleye and Sauger out from the beach and never located any Crappies out there anywhere. I have not tried it but I assume you could fish from shore by the bridges.
Good luck and stay safe this ice season.